The Duke's Son
by aeriza
Summary: He was the son of a duke. And she? She was only a commoner who was a friend of a noblewoman. / fem!Kuroko x Akashi


**Summary: He was the son of a duke. And she? She was only a commoner who was a friend of a noblewoman. / fem!Kuroko x Akashi **

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Somewhere in a large mansion were Kuroko and Momoi, they were both sitting next to each other at a sofa in one of the living rooms. Momoi was a noble, and Kuroko was a commoner. Despite that, they were close friends with each other. Momoi had invited Kuroko to her mansion to talk about something directly, which was why Kuroko was there.

After Momoi mentioned that she received an invitation to a party that a duke from a neighboring state was hosting, Kuroko asked Momoi, "You want me to come with you to the party?"

"Yeah, you never been to one, right? This will be a great opportunity."

Kuroko never liked crowded or loud places. A party was sure to have many people included. "I don't know if I can, Lady Satsuki. I'm rather busy."

"I know that isn't true, Tetsu-chan. You forget that I memorized your schedule, and I definitely know that you're not busy at the day the party is hosted."

Ugh, Kuroko almost forgot. Momoi was an intelligence expert, so Kuroko wouldn't be able to come up with a good excuse to fool her. Kuroko sighed. "Fine, I'll go."

Momoi clapped her hands together in delight. Her eyes and wide smile expressed her glee. "Great! I can't wait to doll you up!"

Kuroko sweatdropped. She thought to herself, 'That's why you wanted me to go? To make me wear make-up and a dress for once?' It wasn't like she hated dresses or make-up, but Kuroko thought anything girly didn't suit her at all. She classified herself as a total tomboy when it came to fashion.

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The day of the party was a lively one. It was placed at the duke's mansion, and everyone was located in the ball room. People from all over the country had came. They wore extravagant outfits, and Kuroko felt intimidated by it all.

She felt stiff in her dress. It was too fancy for her taste, though Momoi insisted that she wear it. Considering that Momoi provided it for her, Kuroko didn't want to seem rude to her friend's efforts and reluctantly tried it on. It was a perfect fit, and it wasn't as uncomfortable as she thought it would be. Regardless, the dress still felt like chains wrapped around her. She couldn't move freely as much as she wanted to.

Momoi, who was also dressed in an elegant evening gown, said to Kuroko, "I'm going to greet some people over there. You want to come along with me?"

Kuroko looked to see the people Momoi were referring to. Kuroko didn't know any of them, and she thought she would feel awkward talking to some aristocrats she never met before. She shook her head. "No," she replied. "It's fine. I can stay here."

"If you are sure, I'll be right back, okay?"

"Okay." Kuroko watched as Momoi left to talk to the other nobles. Kuroko fidgeted a bit. The ball room was huge, crowded with people she didn't even know. She felt totally out of place. Why did she come here again? Oh, right. Momoi was the reason why. Kuroko wanted to leave as soon as possible, but if she ditched the party so early, Momoi would be disappointed, and Kuroko didn't want that.

"Excuse me, miss, but would you like to dance?"

Kuroko turned to see a red-haired stranger. His hand was outstretched toward her, no doubt gesturing for her to take his hand and dance with him. Too bad that Kuroko couldn't. She never had dancing lessons, neither did she actually tried folk dancing before, much less ball dancing. Kuroko said, "Thank you for the offer, but I'm afraid I can't dance."

The stranger simply said, "It's fine. I'll lead you."

"Um," Kuroko stuttered out. "But I said that I can't - "

"Trust me. Everything will be fine."

Kuroko stared at the man with a careful look, while the stranger was giving her a blank, yet reassuring look. Kuroko didn't want to dance, but at the same time, she did. Even if she did end up embarrassing herself with her poor dance form, it wasn't like she would see any of these people again anyway. It wasn't everyday that she could go to a ballroom party, and she might as well make the most of this chance. After all, she would probably never be able to get the opportunity to go to one ever again.

"Alright," Kuroko replied. "If you insist..." She finally put her hand over his, and he led her to the dance floor.

A rather slow song played, luckily, and the mysterious stranger put an arm around her waist and led her in the dance. He helped her when she stumbled on a step, and Kuroko quickly realized that this man was an expert at ballroom dancing. His movements were fluid and graceful, and Kuroko couldn't help but be envious and amazed of his apparent skill. Even with the fact that she didn't really have any dancing experience, he was able to lead her to dance smoothly, though she did mess up here and there because she never danced before.

But still, it was going much better than she had imagined in her mind.

He commented, "You seem to be a natural."

Kuroko replied, "And you seem to be an expert dancer."

"Only because I've been going to these parties for ages. It's inevitable that I would learn a thing or two from each of them."

Before she could think about it, the words left Kuroko's mouth, "Parties must be boring for you, then." She realized her mistake. That was quite a blunt thing to say to a stranger she just met.

But, fortunately, the man only looked at her in amusement at the comment. "You're right. Parties are boring to me, but..." He leaned his head down a bit - their faces only a few inches apart - and locked gazes with her. "This particular one doesn't seem as boring as the others."

She didn't know what to think of that last sentence. Looking deep into the man's eyes, Kuroko felt an odd feeling. This man seemed so mysterious. His hetero-chromatic eyes seemed to only heighten the mystery. She wanted to talk him a while longer, but the song slowly ended, and he let her go.

"It was nice meeting you, madam. May we meet again." And with those last words, he strolled away.

She watched his retreating back with disappointment. Surely this was the last time they would ever meet.

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**A/N: This was inspired by Cinderella and Final Fantasy XII. I wasn't planning to upload this, but I decided to anyway. **

**Thank you for reading. ****I would love to hear your thoughts on this story. **


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